Book Festival
While all of us at BTG pitch in to review the Fringe, the International Festival is largely Philip Fisher's domain, and the Book Festival I like to keep to myself.
The whole thing takes place in temporary buildings in Charlotte Square Gardens, where there are also two bookshops (one exclusively for children's books), cafés and a bar. When the sun comes out to dry out the mud from the rain, it's a beautifully calm place to sit and take a breath before rejoiining the madness of the Fringe.
There are usually a few theatre-related events, such as actors and directors talking about their autobiographies or memoirs, biographers of famous theatre people and a few fascinating talks by academics and practitioners about theatre and theatre history.
Scottish playwright David Greig, whose adaptation of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is currently running on the West End and who is also curating events that debate the Scottish referendum at Stand in the Square under the title All Back To Bowie's, will talk about Suspect Culture, the experimental theatre company he formed with Graham Eatough in 1993, with Ian Brown, professor of drama at Kingston University, who will present his history, Scottish Theatre.
There are actually some theatrical performances this year at the Book Festival. Letters Home is a promenade performance written by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Kei Miller, Kamila Shamsie and Christos Tsiolkas and performed by Scottish theatre company Grid Iron. I'm still waiting to hear whether they can get me in for the press performance of this one as it is proving popular.
One that I will be reviewing is The Lamplighter, a rehearsed reading of a 2007 radio play by Book Festival regular Jackie Kay, originally written for BBC Radio 3 for the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slavery.
There are a few events at the Book Festival for which I've bought tickets and I may pick up a few more while I'm there. Ticket prices are cheaper that a lot of the Fringe, especially for children's events, most of which are at least as interesting for adults, and so it's easier to be impulsive and investigate a subject in which you think you might be interested.